I’ve watched John Carney’s (Begin Again, Sing Street) Once in its entirety three times. I saw it in 2007 during its theatrical run. I saw it another time between that and my 2024 rewatch. I have felt myself connecting with it less with each subsequent viewing, yet appreciating it more. What is ironic is that when I first saw the film, it felt like an original masterpiece, and that is something I don’t feel anymore. Perhaps that was because I needed to see more movies following the fairly generic formula. Or maybe it was because I’ve seen too many films that have followed that blueprint, resulting in Once feeling less original than I initially found. As I write this review, I try to balance that original perception against how I react to the film 14 years later.
Category Archives: Romance
You Hurt My Feelings (2023)
Nicole Holofcener’s (Friends With Money, Love, and Amazing) You Hurt My Feelings is a less affecting version of her 2013 critically acclaimed and well-received Enough Said. Each movie’s watch went down like a tasty new beverage, but then quickly forgotten as soon as we tried something new. In addition to being a better movie, Enough Said was the final movie of the late James Gandolfini and one that allowed him to shed the exterior of Tony Soprano in favor of a softer, more vulnerable character. Each movie starred Julia Louis-Dreyfus (National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Hannah and Her Sisters) in, perhaps, her two best non-television roles.
All of Us Strangers (2023)
Dark. Mysterious. Unsettling. Romantic. Poetic Prophetic. Andrew Haigh’s (Leon on Pete, 45 Years) All of Us Strangers is an imaginative, transcendent love story with two Oscar-deserving actors portraying empathetic characters searching desperately for human connection. This idyllic love story gives a glimpse from its first scenes that our two leads are destined for something beautifully tragic.
Poor Things (2023)
Give Emma Stone (La La Land, Battle of the Sexes) this year’s Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role. This category is going to be STACKED for 2023-released, eligible movies. With six weeks left before the nominations, I have seen all films perceived as frontrunners. Lily Gladstone (Kill of the Flower Moon) was the thought-to-be shoo-in for most of the year heading into the fall. Gladstone delivers an award-deserving performance. However, I would rather see her considered in the Best Actress in a Supporting Role category, where I think that performance fits better (at the time of this post, it is still being determined which category Gladstone will be submitted for. The others expected to be in consideration for Best Actress in a Leading Role are Greta Lee (Past Lives), Carey Mulligan (Maestro), Margot Robbie (Barbie), and Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall). Each is deserving of a nomination. No one in this group has a chance to beat Stone or Gladstone. Stone is my pick to win.
Maestro (2023)
Each year, a handful of movies are made in a way that is less interested in audience consumption or interest and more in earning awards. The term for this is “Oscar bait.” The 2023-released movie most associated with this term is Bradley Cooper’s (A Star Is Born) sophomore directorial effort, Maestro. It will earn a few Oscars. Cooper might even earn one for Best Director. He’s likelier to earn one for Best Lead Actor for portraying the title character, Leonard Bernstein.